Deloraine Island - Whitsunday Group

Google Earth is your friend as a trip planning aid - This is one of the islands that I included on my bucket list after poking around Google Earth looking for some alternative paths through the Whitsundays. Deloraine Island is one of the outside islands and whilst not wanting to over promote this island - it is a bit of a gem.

It has a north facing coral beach, offering protection from winds with any south in them.  It is surrounded by a fringing reef where spearing is allowed.

In the winter months whales can be heard passing by, and very little else as tourists, including charter boats don't venture this far out.  It isn't an ideal anchorage so you won't be overrun by the boating fraternity, but you will need to watch your tides and currents as there are over-falls created in this area by tidal action.

No water or facilities, but mobile phone access (try the headland or western beach).  Note that you usually loose mobile phone reception on the Eastern side of Whitsunday or Hook Islands so it was unexpected.

With a bit of planning, you can enhance your next trip to the Whitsundays - and treat yourself to some crayfish if you can catch them!

Some images below taken from and around Deloraine Island in 2012.



Deloraine Island - Whitsunday Group from Paul Wilton on Vimeo.

Cribb Island

I was out paddling past the airport the other day and one of the paddlers mentioned that we were passing Cribb Island.  I remembered this name from my early days in BrisVegas (aka Brisbane) but hadn't heard it mentioned in years.

I have paddled past this structure and always wondered what it was before the airport was extended.

The only reference I could find mentions "bathing" houses.  I found the following picture in some archives which shows the bath houses in the background.

A short history was that the area was occupied in the late 1800's by a group of local Aboriginal people before being sold as farming land.  It was developed around 1916 and ended up with a population of 900 by 1970 and was home to the young brothers Gibb (aka Bee Gees) at some point.

In 1970 the Government started to reclaim the land to extend the airport with the last resident reluctantly leaving by 1980. There is a lot of information available which describes how the reclamation was handled and the affects on peoples lives which is a darker chapter of our local past and is only a shadow of the reflection of how we treated the traditional owners of this land.

Sea Kayaking around Rainbow Beach and Double Island Point

I have surfed and fished this part of the world for a lot of years, but haven't ever been Sea Kayaking along this stretch of coast. A quick plan was hatched with a couple of fellow sea kayakers and  we took off for an exploratory paddle last weekend to check out the potential for running a club trip up this way.

We have had a week of northerlies which kept the swell small and the temps up around 28 degrees C for the last day of winter. The water was  crystal clear and the ocean life plentiful.  Within minutes of being on the water we were encountering Bottle-Nose Dolphins and Turtles.  Whales pass close to this headland and whilst we didn't see any on the water, people had been viewing them earlier in the week.

There was nothing not to like for a Sea Kayaker!  It would be close to a 30km return paddle from Rainbow Beach which means you don't need to worry about the tides or slogging through some soft sand in your 4WD.  Paddling around the headland would be under 10kms if you drove up to the point.

We took the opportunity to paddle over to Fraser Island on the Sunday and had an impromptu surf session at Hook Point.  This is an amazing part of the world and well worth spending some time here outside the holiday season.

The only negative to the whole weekend was camping at Inskip Point - it was very busy.  We ended up camping in the SS Dorrigo campsite which was further away from the point and less crowded.  That said, Fraser Island is just a stones throw away...


201308 Rainbow Beach from Paul Wilton on Vimeo.